


The Mystery Man Job

by thewightknight



Series: Ridiculous Crossovers Nobody Asked For [23]
Category: Highlander: The Series, Leverage
Genre: Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Gen, eliot is confused, the snag in the plan that always happens, who is this guy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:01:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27789415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewightknight/pseuds/thewightknight
Summary: The scam was in play, the mark was distracted, and everything was going to plan. And then a strange man with a sword showed up.
Series: Ridiculous Crossovers Nobody Asked For [23]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1214289
Comments: 12
Kudos: 47





	The Mystery Man Job

The Mystery Man Job

Another week, another mark. Edgard Clotende, CEO of Enterprise Verdex, had, via means of a serious of nefarious deeds, acquired a small pharmaceutical research company, laid off all the employees, and was moving forward with manufacturing a drug that hadn’t passed several safety tests. A group of former employees had contacted Nate, and here they were now.

“Let’s go steal a millionaire,” Nate had said.

Parker was already in place inside the building, having snuck in late that afternoon and squirreled herself in the hiding place they’d scouted out for her the previous day.

Thanks to Sophie’s maneuvering, Clotende was well occupied at a charity benefit she’d organized in his name. She and Nate monitored him while Hardison and Eliot kept watch on Parker from Lucille, parked a few blocks away.

“Okay, I’m in the office,” Parker said. “Booting up his computer now.”

“That’s my girl,” Hardison crooned.

“We may have a problem,” Sophie said through the coms. “Clotende’s disappeared.”

“She’s right,” Nate said. “I don’t see him anywhere.”

“You lost him?” Hardison said. “How long ago?”

The hall where Sophie had staged the benefit was only a short drive from Verdex’s headquarters.

“Long enough,” Nate confirmed.

“Yep, there he is,” Hardison said, pointing to a monitor. He’d hacked into the traffic cams, and the one at the corner showed Clotende’s car pulling through the intersection and approaching the building’s garage.

“All right, I’m calling it. Parker, get out of there,” Nate ordered.

Parker, being Parker, didn’t cooperate.

“I can do this,” she insisted.

“Hey, Hardison? I think we may have another problem,” Eliot interrupted, pointing to another monitor. This one showed a man approaching the main doors. “And I think he means business.”

He didn’t look like much at first glance—handsome, almost prettily so, with dark hair pulled back into a ponytail, dressed in casual but not inexpensive clothing.

As they watched, he tapped on the glass door, catching the attention of the security guard stationed at the desk in the lobby.

“I wish we had sound, because I’d love to know how he managed that,” Hardison said as the guard opened the door for him. And then, “Oh, wow, man,” as the man dropped the guard with one punch, then charged the desk where the guard’s partner sat. “Okay, Parker, you really need to get out of there,” Hardison almost shouted as the second guard hit the alarm before their new player hit him.

“Wait. Look. He’s going to draw all the guards to the lobby,” Eliot interrupted. “That’ll give her some more time.”

“Don’t need more,” Parker said. “Heading out now.”

“Yeah. Don’t use the lobby,” Hardison said. “How many guards they have on night shift?” he asked Eliot.

“One in the garage, these two in the lobby, four or five more on patrol through the building.”

“Here they come!”

Two of the elevators dinged in short succession, each depositing a guard.

“We’re on our way. What’s going on?” Nate demanded.

“Ponytail’s good,” Hardison reported. “Maybe even as good as you,” he told Eliot, who grunted as the man took down these two guards as handily as the first. “What is he?”

Eliot shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“What do you mean, you don’t know?” Hardison asked, incredulous.

“I mean, nothing adds up. He’s a mess of characteristics, but none of them match up with any unit or organization I’m familiar with.” Eliot scowled as the unknown man took out the next guard who came barreling out of the stairwell without ruffling a strand of his hair. “See that bit there? That’s part judo, part capoeira. For the first two he used Russian sambo, with a bit of old-fashioned boxing thrown in for good measure.” Another elevator dinged in the bank, and three more guards spilled out.

“Oh, hey, we miscounted the guards!” Hardison said. “Think he’s got these too?”

He did get these.

“Look at that! He’s used bits from eleven styles of combat now. I’ve never seen anything like him. A person would need lifetimes to get that good, if not more, except he doesn’t look over forty. He’s not possible.”

“Well, whoever he is, I like him,” Parker declared, popping through Lucille’s back doors and startling them both.

“You would,” Hardison said, and she kissed him on top of the head.

“I still like you too,” she said.

“Okay, whoa, man,” Eliot said. “Will you look at that?”

Their mark had arrived in the lobby. Clotende squared off against Eliot’s mystery fighter and they exchanged words, circling each other as they spoke.

And then…

“What the hell?” Hardison asked.

“Where did those come from?” Eliot said at the same time, as both men drew swords out of nowhere.

“What’s going on? Talk to me, people,” Nate demanded.

“What’s going on is we’re getting the hell out of here," Hardison replied. "We’ve got swords now. This shit’s too weird.”

“Did you get the files? And plant the virus?” Nate asked.

“Yep,” Parker confirmed as Hardison slid into Lucille’s driver seat.

“Okay, meet us back at the rendezvous point then. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.”

It wasn’t tomorrow, but the day after, that a breaking news story hit the local stations.

 _Police are searching for Edgard Clotende, the CEO of Enterprise Verdex, after information surfaced about startling irregularities in the development of the company’s supposed new miracle drug. Mr. Clotende has disappeared, as have most of Enterprise Verdex’s assets and Mr. Clotende’s personal accounts. Federal officials are investigating the disappearance and the freak electrical storm that occurred at Verdex's headquarters on the night of his disappearance, although they have not said whether they suspect the two are related,_ the local anchor announced.

Nate hit mute on the remote for the TV over the bar, shaking his head.

“Those first bits are ours, but what happened to Clotende? And who was that man?” Sophie asked.

“I think we’ll let those mysteries lie,” Nate said, raising his seltzer water and clinking against Sophie’s wine glass.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! If you want to say hi, [check out my profile](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewightknight/profile) for where I’m currently hanging out on this here internet thing. If you liked this, please share! Kudos are love and comments are always appreciated, no matter how old the fic is.


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